The present invention relates to emergency treatment of a fractured pelvis or an injured neck. In particular, the invention provides a device and a method for its use in a closed reduction of a fracture of a pelvis and for stabilizing the fractured pelvis pending further treatment, and which may also be used as a cervical support collar.
Internal bleeding due to a fractured pelvis can easily result in death. Rapidly reducing a fracture of a pelvis decreases mortality substantially, and devices are known for reducing a fracture and stabilizing the fractured pelvis in emergency situations, so that a patient can be transported to a hospital or other treatment facility. Stabilization of the pelvis within the first hour after a fracture occurs is critical and may often determine whether the patient lives or dies.
Krieg, et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,554,784 and 7,008,389 disclose devices which can be used to encircle the hips of an injured person and provide a proper amount of hoop tension to urge the parts of a person's fractured pelvic ring toward a normal relationship and thus reduce internal bleeding at the site or sites of fracture. The devices disclosed by Krieg, et al., provide for non-invasive reduction of a fractured pelvis and for stabilization of the person's pelvis during transport to a hospital or other medical facility where a fractured pelvis can be surgically repaired. The Krieg, et al., devices are particularly appropriate for use in emergency situations such as the scene of a car accident, a skiing accident, a mountain-climbing accident, or industrial injury, for example.
In a commercially available embodiment of a Krieg, et al., device, a broad belt-like body partially encircles the patient's hip region, and a strap adjustably interconnects the opposite ends of the body of the device. A special buckle is attached to one end of the body of the device, and a strap extends between the buckle and a strap mounting piece that must be fastened to the opposite end of the main body at a location that must be selected when using the device on an injured person, although proper placement of the strap mounting piece is not intuitively obvious to an untrained person. The strap, extending through the buckle, must then be pulled to provide hoop tension to support the pelvis. The special buckle senses the correct amount of tension, at which it engages the strap, preventing over tightening. A relatively small range of adjustability of the circumference of the device is available, however, with the strap mounting piece in a particular location. As a result the strap mounting piece may need to be relocated on the main body before sufficient tension can be obtained and retained by the buckle.
Because of the provision of the strap and its mounting piece as a separate, removable, part of the device, application of the device involves several steps, so proper training and familiarity with the device can be critical to its effective use. Also, the removability of the strap requires a well-trained person to rearrange the parts of the device properly for reuse once it has been used on an injured person.
In order to avoid the expenditure of time required to determine where to attach the strap mounting piece to the main body of such a device, and to simplify effective application, an improved device for use by emergency medical aid providers is desired, capable of stabilizing a pelvis, in which such placement of a strap mounting member onto the main body of the device is not necessary, yet ample adjustability is immediately available. Ideally, such a device could also have additional utility, as well.